To an avid reader with a busy life, bookmarks are indispensable. Since it is difficult for most people to finish a book in one sitting, the pages where the reader has left off must be marked and remarked as the reader progresses through the book. Frequently, in this manner, the reading of a single text is accomplished in multiple sittings, requiring the reader to interrupt the process and resume reading the book when convenient.
A single book may also be read in multiple locations, whereby it is carried by the reader from place to place until it is finished. For example, a single book may be read while in bed, at the doctor's office while waiting for an appointment, in a park over a lunch hour or even while exercising on a stationary bike at the local gymnasium. Consequently, an unfinished book may frequently need to be carried from one location to another as the author progresses through the book. This necessitates marking and remarking the stopping points in the book in a secure manner so that the proper stopping point is designated regardless of the physical movement of the book from one location to another.
Sometimes it is also desirable to use bookmarks to facilitate the ready location of a particular page in a book that the reader may use frequently. For example, it may be desirable to mark a particular recipe in a cookbook or a favorite poem in a poetry book so that the excerpt can be located and referred to quickly.
A book containing a bookmark may be stored in various places while being read, including purses or briefcases. It may be stored in a flat position on its back cover when placed on a bedside table, in an upright position when stored in a bookcase, or in various other positions while being transported.
The known bookmarks of the prior art tend to be in the nature of paper or plastic coated paper strips, string or cloth which are intended to be inserted between the pages of a book after the page last read. By inserting such devices so that they project beyond the upper edge of the book and placing the book on its back cover, the place where the reader left off may be quickly and easily found again when desired. This avoids the necessity of searching through pages of text to find the reader's place or pick up the story.
This method may be sufficient if the book is placed in a horizontal position and lies undisturbed on a bedside table, to be picked up again the next night at the same location. This is because the weight of the finished pages of the book and the force of gravity will hold the bookmark in its place when the book is lying horizontally.
However, such bookmarks have certain disadvantages and limitations. For example, these bookmarks are not particularly useful if the book is placed vertically on end, as may be the case if the book is carried from place to place in a purse, knapsack or briefcase, or if the book is inadvertently dropped. Under such circumstances, the force of gravity and the lack of weight holding the bookmark in place often results in the bookmark falling loosely to the center of the book and could result in its becoming dislodged from the book altogether. At that point, the reader must then examine the book closely to determine where the reader left off--a process that can be frustrating and time consuming and which negates the value of using a bookmark at all.
Other devices in the prior art that have been used as bookmarks are in the nature of clips which can be fastened or clipped to a particular page in the book. Such devices have the disadvantage of potentially causing a permanent mark on, or permanent damage to, the book pages. Such devices can cause permanent marking, bending or tearing of the paper pages due to the weight of the marker on a particular page, making such devices undesirable.